Tuesday, 30 April 2013

YiQuan SanTi Posture

The SanTi posture in YiQuan is practiced after one has learnt and practised the 6 basic health postures, and forms the basic body framework for martial applications.

When training-in the SanTi posture there are so many muscle groups involved in positioning the hips properly that it can be very difficult to relax into the correct alignments for prolonged periods of time. This situation is made easier if one tunes into the sensations of the whole-body subconscious postural muscle network. It is this network of muscles which 'effortlessly' keeps one's head upright when one is awake, instead of one having to actively hold the head up all the time, or even leaving one's head dangling from the neck like when one falls asleep sitting in a chair. The head is kept upright 'as if by magic' when we go about our activities, but in fact this maintained raised head is our subconscious 'intention' - in traditional Chinese culture this is called our 'Yi'. The Yi is most easily felt in the hands at first, and then the sensation can be detected between the arms, and then the other limbs of the body.

In just 6 months significant progress can be made in YiQuan - practicing the basic health postures once a day every day for 70 minutes each time can produce the following changes:

The author in SanTi 'guard' posture during 9 day residential retreats at TaoLin YiQuan Academy, Beijing.

The SanTi posture is further improved and explored through various moving exercises which engage the whole-body muscle network.

The author practicing a ShiLi exercise at TaoLin YiQuan Academy while stood in SanTi posture. April 2013.